|
Teaching by Lama
Zopa Rinpoche |
Loving
Oneself
 To love oneself is not
contradictory to what Mahayana Buddhism teaches. It is not saying
one should not love oneself. Renouncing oneself and cherishing
others is not contradictory to loving oneself. In fact, practicing
the Mahayana teaching, bodhicitta, is the best way to love oneself,
to take care of oneself.
Whatever we do with
our body, speech, and mind is for happiness. Even the activities of
the tiniest insects, like the ants we see running around and keeping
so busy, is also to achieve happiness. By looking at ourselves and
at other living beings, we can see that it is the same: whatever we
do is to achieve happiness.
In Buddhism,
particularly in Mahayana Buddhism, the best way of loving oneself is
to pull out the root of all problems, which is right in one's own
heart: the ego, the self-centered mind. So, if one lets go of
cherishing the I, then it doesn't matter what situation one is
experiencing, the problem becomes non- existent.
Without talking
about the long-term result of enlightenment, what effect immediately
comes into your heart by letting go of the self-centered mind? The
result is peace, happiness, satisfaction. With bodhicitta you have
fulfillment in your heart, you see life as more meaningful. Even if
you don't know lots of Dharma, even if you only know Om Mani Padme
Hung and nothing else, if you let go of the root of the problems of
life, if you let go of what makes you cry all the time inside your
heart like a baby, "I'm not happy, I'm not happy, I'm not happy,'
you can find happiness and satisfaction. No matter how much one
learns Buddhadharma, no matter how much the education expands
externally with words and meanings, if the mind is always crying
inside the heart, "I'm not happy!" "I," "I," "I" becomes the main
concern in life.
The meaning of
loving oneself then becomes loving attachment, the emotional mind.
Rather than trying to get rid of this mind, one becomes a slave to
attachment, to the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas. Then
if somebody disturbs this delusion you see that as a problem. In
reality this affliction is the main enemy that does not allow you to
open your heart or have realizations. It won't let you achieve the
ultimate freedom, to become completely liberated from all
sufferings, including the cycle of death and rebirth, and the
causes, karma and delusions. This affliction doesn't allow you to
see emptiness of the I and blocks the wisdom that cuts the
ignorance, which is the root of samsara.
Even if one doesn't
know anything intellectually but the mind is free from emotional
mind, one receives so much deep peace in the heart. One doesn't show
excitement, doesn't do disco dancing (I'm joking!), however there is
incredible peace. There is no problem with loneliness or depression,
because one lets go of the self-centered mind instead of holding it
like baby, like a jewel. One who lets go like this is opening the
door to enlightenment, opening the door to the happiness of oneself
and for every living being.
This emotional,
attached mind is your mind, and this healthy, renounced Dharma mind
is also your mind. Satisfaction comes from the Dharma mind. If you
follow this mind, the free mind, when somebody criticizes you it
doesn't bother you, it doesn't hurt your compassion. But when you
follow the attachment mind and somebody criticizes you, it bothers
you, it hurts you. As you become the friend of attachment you begin
to view this emotional mind as your self, your being, then when
someone's criticism hurts your attachment, it appears like it is
hurting you.
If you analyze like
this, whether you feel hurt or not is completely in your hands. One
can use the situation to make oneself more peaceful, to bring
oneself satisfaction and fulfillment; to quickly achieve
realizations, quickly receive the path to enlightenment.
The whole key to
transforming everything into beneficial situations, to blocking all
the problems, is which mind you follow, whether you follow delusion
or Dharma - your own mind the delusions; your own mind the Dharma;
the ego or the bodhicitta; the attachment or the free mind. You can
have the satisfied mind, which is pure Dharma. It's up to you.
Lama
Zopa Rinpoche gave this teaching at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London,
November 1996
More
links...
Read what Lama Zopa Rinpoche says
about family and relationships
|
|
His
Holiness the Dalai Lama in Nottingham, UK in 2008-
Update |
|
A
newsletter for the talks and teachings of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama in Nottingham, UK in 2008 is now available. Please visit the
website at: http://www.dalailama2008.org.uk/news-newsletter.html
|
New
project to support Carers: Healthy Lifestyle Workshops - with
'Repaying the
Kindness' |
One in eight people in the UK provides 'informal care' for a
loved one with a mental or physical disability, saving the
government around £87 billion a year. Unrecognised by the state,
lacking training and financial support, this invisible army goes
largely unnoticed by society.
Repaying
the Kindness was started in 2001 by Jamyang after staff
realised the need for a space where adult carers could relax, learn
new skills and socialise. 'Repaying
the Kindness is a non-religious charity focusing on the carers
themselves and their needs, as do organisations like Lambeth Carers
and Southwark Carers focus on the carers themselves and their
needs', says Estelle Rose.
Repaying
the Kindness recently received a grant from The National
Lottery through Awards for All and will use the money to offer a new
'Healthy Lifestyle' programme this year. All carers are
welcome to book up by contacting Repaying the Kindness.
If you would like to volunteer and help out on
these events please contact Estelle at: 020
78209020! |
| Talking Buddhism - Help
Needed |
In
order to continue making teachings available on our audio website
(www.talkingbuddhism.com) we need
help to record the
teachings on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and weekend
teachings. Volunteers don't need any previous
experience.
Please
let us know if you can help by contacting Pierre at: courses@jamyang.co.uk |
| Director's
column |
|
Hello Everyone,
This month I just wanted to mention a little bit about
pujas. As most of you will know from our programme, twice a month
according to the Tibetan lunar calendar we do Lama Chopa (or Guru
Puja). Also in the last year, on the specific advice of our
Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Jamyang, we've started to
do the four Mandala Offerings to Tara, and again to do Medicine
Buddha Puja.
All these pujas are very profound practices, and for
those wanting to know more there are many teachings and commentaries
available, and this month Geshe Soepa will be giving a weekend
teaching on the "Praises to the 21 Taras". However I also wanted to
say that it is possible for anyone to take part at whatever level.
Lama Chopa and the Tara puja are usually partly chanted in Tibetan
(with phonetics and accompanying English translation) and partly
read in English and include many visualisations and
meditations.
To come together in this way, and
with the beauty of some of the melodies and the inspiration that can
come from these prayers and meditations, can help the heart to open
and bring some positive energy to our minds. It can help clear
things when we feel blocked and enable us to connect to the
qualities within ourselves embodied by these aspects of the awakened
mind. So if you're new to these practices why not give them a try?
They're free to attend, and you are very welcome.
Also just to remind people that we do have a
dedication board here at Jamyang, and dedicate the positive energy
from all teachings and practices especially to these people listed
here. If you wish to give us the name of someone who has recently
passed away, or is ill or has particular problems, let us know in
the office or at reception.
Please do continue reciting prayers for Ecie Hursthouse, who is
the founding director of Amitabha Hospice Service in New Zealand and
a very devoted student of Rinpoche's for many years was
recently in a very bad car accident and is in hospital. Lama Zopa
Rinpoche is requesting if each FPMT center could please do 110
recitations of the Diamond Cutter Sutra as soon as possible, with
strong dedications for Ecie's recovery. So far we have managed 60
recitations between Jamyang students and staff.
With love,
Di |
| Tara:
Voidness
clothed in its finest
raiment! |
Tara practices may well be the most
frequently practised sadhanas (spiritual practices) in the Tibetan
Buddhist world. In the very large monasteries of Tibet
(historically) and India, the "Homages to the Twenty One Taras"
is done several times each day.
There are many manifestations of
Tara, Green Tara being the most well known. It is Green Tara who
devotees approach when asking for help of any kind - she is said to
have been born from the tears of the Buddha of Compassion,
Avalokiteshvara (Tib: Chenrezig), and is depicted sitting with her
right leg extended, so that she can inmediately rise to offer
help when she is asked for it.
She is known as being a goddess of
mercy, a protector, for clearing obstacles, instantly
responding to suffering, as a mother would to her only child. She
also, according to John Blofeld in "Bodhisattva of Compassion",
often manifests in the lives of Dharma practitioners when they take
themselves, or spiritual path too seriously. Tibetans tell of her
laughing at self-righteousness, or playing jokes on those who lack
reverence for the feminine! When she was a Bodhisattva, she made
this vow - "There are many who desire Enlightenment in a man's body,
but none who work for the benefit of sentient beings in the body of
a woman. Therefore, until samsara is empty, I shall work for the
benefit of sentient beings in a woman's body."
Tara, at the absolute level, has
been described as Enlightenment stepping down to us, reaching out a
hand to lift us up, and as "Voidness clothed in its finest
raiment".
This month on the weekend of
the 9th and 10th, Geshe Soepa has agreed to teach us how to do
the "praises to the 21 Taras" and the "4 Mandala Offerings" to
Tara that we do at Jamyang once a
month! |
| Cynthia Bonell shares her experience working with
Tibetan Refugees in Nepal- |
|
I was fortunate last year to be able to spend some time doing
voluntary work in India and Nepal. John and I volunteered to
spend 2 months at the Tibetan Refuge Reception Centre in Kathmandu
and then 1 month at the Dharamsala Centre, teaching newly arrived
refugee children for a UK charity called 'Art Refuge'.
At our
summer retreat in Dorset last year I asked advice from Khensur
Rinpoche Geshe Jampa Tekchog before beginning our work in Nepal and
India. My question to Rinpoche had been along the lines of what
advice he could give us so that we could be of best use to the
refugees. His reply was quite clear and precise. We were to let the
art itself be the therapy for the refugees. For ourselves, we needed
to check our motivation each morning and to dedicate any merits
fully along with some analysis of the day, each evening. With this
kind advice and his blessing we set off.
We started
work in Kathmandu and each day we went to the centre well prepared
with art projects and craft ideas. The refugees began to come to the
classes and it was soon filled with eager pupils ready to try
anything we presented to them. Often we would start by showing them
what the activity entailed with the help of the two Tibetan teachers
who translated for us and we then proceeded with the general
business of giving out pencils, rulers, glue and scissors. Sometimes
a quietness would fall over us all as the pupils concentrated on
their work while John and I went around trying to offer
encouragement and trying to predict or guess what piece of
equipment the refugees were asking for. Our communication became the
art-work and Rinpoche's first piece of advice seemed to produce
happy students producing creative pieces of work. It was a joy to
behold.
I realised quite early on that the best motivation or aim we
could have was to try our best to make all who came into the
classroom feel welcome, safe and at ease. Along with this we
did our best to prepare, as best we could, art projects which would
be both relevant to them and also offer scope for their own
creativity to flourish.
As a result they produced some
remarkable pieces of work. This included poetry, drawings of the 6
auspicious signs, paintings of the Tibetan flag, rainbows, peacocks,
colourful insects, flowers, dragons, yaks and even making a model of
an imaginary Tibetan plateau with mountains, rivers, houses, gompas
and prayer flags. The experience was fun, inspiring and most of all
felt really worthwhile. In a small way it was an attempt to repay
the kindness of so many Tibetan teachers over the
years. John
and I have now returned to London and have been asked to become the
Volunteer Coordinators for the Art Refuge charity. So if there is
anyone out there who can spare one month or more and wants to be
creative and have fun with some beautiful Tibetan people do contact
us or take a look at the website http://www.artrefugeuk.org/.
Cynthia
Bonell |
| The Manager's
bit |
|
The Work
Camp
 26th March -
30th March 2008
Geshe Tashi's request before leaving
on his retreat in 2007 was that effort should be made to clear out
the basement at Jamyang.
This is the main focus of this year's Work Camp. There are many other jobs,
which need attention including painting and decorating, plastering,
plumbing, DIY, gardening, etc and we need willing and enthusiastic
volunteers to help.
Thank you to Alan Mirren who has volunteered
already!
The Work Camp offers a chance for a
team of dedicated individuals to push forward for Jamyang and help
to keep the Centre looking good and forefilling the wishes of our
teachers.
If
you have the time, skills and motivation, please do consider
joining-in during this very beneficial week. I promise it will be
FUN!
With love,
Anil |
| Jamyang is looking for a
treasurer- |
Jamyang Buddhist
centre is looking for a suitably experienced person to join
or support the Board of Trustees as Treasurer. For this role
we are looking for someone with financial experience and expertise
in the following areas;
1.
Ensuring that the
finances of the organisation are carefully looked after and
controlled by:
·
ensuring proper accounting records and
procedures are kept
·
maintaining a good relationship with the
bank
·
carefully monitoring income and expenditure
·
playing a role in the day to day finances of the
organisation
·
maintaining a financial overview of the
organisation's affairs and ensuring the organisation's financial
viability
2.
Supervising the work of
and liaising with the bookkeeper (who does the day-today acounting
work) and agreeing the final year end accounts with the
auditors
3.
Analysing financial
records to forecast future financial position and budget
requirements
4.
Monitoring and directing
such areas as:
·
financial planning
·
investment of funds, reserves
5.
Advising management and
reporting back to the board on:
·
the state of the organisation's finances on a
regular basis and alerting the board in a timely way to avert any
financial problems
·
advising the board on it's financial duties
and the implications of any strategic plans
·
investments and loans for short and long range
financial plans
·
preparing financial reports for
management
If you have the
experience to help support the Centre in this vital role please
contact Michael Murray, Chair of the Jamyang Board of Trustees
(fbt_michael@yahoo.co.uk) or speak to
any of the
Trustees. |
| Jamyang's
Bookshop |
Corinne agreed last month to take on the job of managing
Jamyang's bookshop.
Here, she tells us about why she took on the role and how she
plans to take the
shop forward.
 I spent all my childhood in the French Normandy
region and met my "prince charming" in Paris. It was the first time
I really got in touch with Buddhism as my partner, Jerome, had spent
one year in Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhist monasteries when he
was 18 years old. After living a few years in Paris, which is as
foolish as it is beautiful, we decided to go far from the stress and
the noise. We chose a tiny village in the mountain of the
"Vercors" in the south of France. Looking for a healthier lifestyle,
we built our own organic house and had two
lovely children. That dream realised, and as they were growing up,
we decided to leave and move on again. Because of the remote
location of our house Jerome, whose job involves travelling a
lot, was always away. So we decided to move to a more "central"
location: a town near Heathrow airport. And now we can spend more
time together.
After one year here in England, I decided to begin to
use my skills and my free time for something very useful with a
bright aim. I went one day to Jamyang and Esther persuaded me that
it would be a good opportunity for me to liven up the bookshop.
And I must say I am enthusiastic! So I will try.
Any help and ideas are welcome and much appreciated!
Volunteers for opening hours are also needed.
We are here for you. So please let us know how we
can provide a better service. You can contact me at: bookshop@jamyang.co.uk
Love, Corinne |
| Valentine's Day
thoughts- |
|
We are
very happy to have this opportunity to write something about love
for the coming Valentine's Day. It's not like we know that much
about love, but the main thing we learned from Buddhism is to try to
love all beings equally, rather than just the quite narrow love for
the people who are close to us. We should cultivate love for those
close to us of course, but imagine if we could have that same
great love for everyone! And we can - Lama Zopa and His Holiness are
living examples of that.The love for people in our lives can be
a sound basis for cultivating love for the people we meet on the
street, in the tube, or in Tesco.
What we've
learned in the process of loving people is the difference between
love and attachment. Often these are mixed together, but pure
love will never bring you suffering, whereas attachment definitely
will. A great master once said, "If it hurts, it's attachment", so
that's how we know the difference. As beginners in this practice, of
course we cannot make the attachment go away just like that, but
every time we feel this attachment maybe it's good to focus
instead on the love part of it. Wishing that person
unconditional happiness - even if there is a
thousand kilometres between you and the one you love.
All around
the world Valentine's Day is the day when people say these
three magical words "I love you" - and we would like to encourage
all of you to say that not only on Valentine's Day, because there is
no reason why the love shouldn't be great everyday. We wish you a
very happy Valentine's Day and we love you. We really do.
Tina and
Martin,
Jamyang
volunteers 2007
If you would like to
share your thoughts, ideas, realisations or
projects through Gentle Voice, please contace Esther at:
esther@jamyang.co.uk
| |
